Comparison between acupuncture therapy and gabapentin for chronic pain: a pilot study

Chen L, Deng H, Houle T, Zhang Y, Ahmed S, Zhang W, Sullivan S, Opalacz A, Roth S, Filatava EJ, Stabach K, Vo T, Malarick C, Kim H, You Z, Shen S, Mao J · Acupuncture in Medicine · 2021 July 29

DOI 10.1177/09645284211026683

Objective

We examined whether the effect of true electroacupuncture on pain and functionality in chronic pain participants can be differentiated from that of medication (gabapentin) by analyzing quantitative sensory testing (QST).

Conclusions

This pilot study suggests that a large-scale clinical study with an adequate sample size would be warranted to compare acupuncture and medication therapy for chronic pain management.

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